MPEG-2 Rendering - DVD-compliant output

Guy S. wrote on 7/3/2005, 8:49 PM
As far as I can tell, the Main Concept encoder requires two passes to create audio and video files compatible with the DVD specification (M2V and WAV).

It will only do MPEG2 program stream (incompatible with DVD spec) or separate M2A (incompatible with DVD spec) and M2V.

Premiere Pro also comes with the Main Concept plugin, and it DOES support DVD-spec compatible output types. Is there a way to get the Main Concept plugin included with Vegas to do this as well? If not, is there another compressor that will work as a plugin within Vegas?

Comments

Spot|DSE wrote on 7/3/2005, 9:04 PM
This is what the batch render tool is for, creating a separate wav/PCM or AC3, depending on what you want for audio.
You may or may not find this
tutorial to be helpful.
Guy S. wrote on 7/22/2005, 2:23 PM
I'll check it out, thanks.

This issue is a sore spot with me. I've been through 6 different pc-based authoring programs, none of which could create DVDs that play reliably. I finally broke down and got a Mac with FCP HD Production Suite. It's an awesome suite, and the DVDs I author on it play on everything (so far!), but I still prefer Vegas for editing - except for the hassle of getting DVD-compliant content out of it.

It just shouldn't be this much trouble to get output files compatible with such a major distribution medium. Makes me wonder what the engineers were thinking.

Thanks again for the tip!
ScottW wrote on 7/22/2005, 4:31 PM
I guess I must be missing something, because I produce DVD content using the MC encoder just about every day that does fine on DVD's.

If I'm planning on using DVD Arch for the DVD Authoring, I use one of the DVDA templates and create a program stream (with no audio - which is rendered seperately as an AC3 file), if I'm going to use DVD Lab Pro, I use the DVD NTSC template and produce an elementary stream - which the only complaint that DVD Lab has about is that it doesn't have closed GOP's (not the end of the world).

The MC encoder is for video only. The AC3 encoder is seperate (and is included with DVD Arch), which is why it takes 2 passes, or if you want to output to WAV, that's done by Vegas.

--Scott
B_JM wrote on 7/22/2005, 4:58 PM
Vegas can (and does) currently produce 100% compliant DVD specification authored content - confirmed many times..



rmack350 wrote on 7/22/2005, 5:16 PM
You may actually be having a hardware or media problem. I had a very hard time burning discs that would play reliably until I did a firmware upgrade on my disc. From what little I could gather from the manufacturer, the upgrade provided more compatibility with a wider variety of disc media.

Prior to this I'd get about 50% reliability. Not good.

Congratulations on your new disc burning system, though. I hear those macs can also edit DV footage as well as burning discs ;-)

Rob Mack
DJPadre wrote on 7/24/2005, 2:15 AM
DVDarchitect is the only authoring program on the market in its range which strictly complies with the DVDForum DVD spec.

Being that audio within DVDA is accepted and/or converted to MANDATORY formats only, not Elective formats such as MPG audio and DTS

I am yet to find a player which doesnt play my discs..
Guy S. wrote on 8/23/2005, 5:21 AM
Thanks for the feedback. I need to add DVD authoring capabilities to my personal editing system and would rather not buy a Mac just to do this.

I tried the DVDA demo when it was ver. 1. Didn't care for what I saw, and didn't give it much of a chance after I discovered that disk image creation was disabled and after reading here that users were having player compatibility issues with it. After evaluating six different PC-based programs without success, I just didn't have time to mess around - the time I spent cost more than a new Mac system.

Based on your experience, however, I will give DVDA another look before I invest in a system for my personal use.
rs170a wrote on 8/23/2005, 5:58 AM
...I will give DVDA another look...

I'll add my vote for DVDA as well. I've burned several hundred discs since I've had it (starting with version 1) and never had a return either.
I always use DVDA to "prepare" the VIDEO_TS & AUDIO_TS folders but then use RecordNow Max to do the actual burning.
I've stuck to Pioneer burners and name brand media and found that works for me.
Cheap media and/or burners can result in all kinds of problems.

Mke
johnmeyer wrote on 8/23/2005, 2:37 PM
I have many quibbles with DVD Architect, but compatibility is NOT one of them. I have produced over 100 different DVDs with this software and never had a single disk returned because it didn't play. This includes a project two months ago that was sent to 170 different people.

I don't doubt that you have a compatibility problem, but I think the fault lies somewhere besides DVD Architect.
Mahesh wrote on 8/24/2005, 12:52 AM
A purely subjective assessment based on well over 500 DVD-R discs (PAL) sent to 500 different addresses over a period 3 years: There were 3 returns which were replaced bt DVD+R.
Compatibility relies on authoring software, burning software, burner and DVD disk. The whole combination has to work. If one of the components is not complient, the compatibility percentage of DVD will suffer.
So I recommend that once you have found a combination that works, stick to it.
Having said that, I am still debating whether I should switch to DVDA3.